On Monday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane released a report on the Jerry Sandusky investigation compiled by former federal prosecutor Geoffrey Moulton.
The report cleared Republican Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett of intentionally delaying the investigation to protect his gubernatorial campaign while he was serving as state attorney general. However, the report found that “inexplicable delays” in prosecuting former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky on child abuse charges allowed him to prey on more victims.
As reported by NBC, “the report found that decisions made at the outset of the probe in 2009, and throughout 2010 and 2011, led to ‘inexplicable delays in bringing a serial child molester to justice.”’
It noted that it took a full year, from March 2009 until March 2010, for the office to recommend charging Sandusky because basic investigative steps were not taken, including searching Sandusky’s home
Then, in March 2010, veteran prosecutor Jonelle Eshbach circulated a draft presentment that recommended filing multiple charges against Sandusky, based on statements by an alleged victim, who later became known as “Victim 1” during Sandusky’s trial, […] But her supervisors in the attorney general’s office overruled her, believing testimony of a lone victim would be “insufficient against a community icon like Sandusky” and that a failed prosecution would make it difficult to proceed if other victims came forward, the report said.
Accordingly, the attorney general’s office declined to file charges in the absence of additional victims despite the fact that this delay in prosecution could lead to additional victims. Indeed, the current attorney general, Kathleen Kan, confirmed at a press conference on Monday that Sandusky did continue to prey on boys during the course of the investigation, stating “Two individuals have indicated they were abused by Sandusky in the fall of 2009.”
The 339 page report goes on to note that the investigation was obstructed by delays in obtaining documents from The Second Mile. The Second Mile was Sandusky’s charity for troubled youth that he used to recruit and groom some of his victims.
The investigation was further delayed by Penn State who did not turn over a police report from 1998 involving a child sex abuse incident. That report, later obtained by investigators, led to the eventual discovery of four additional victims.
In June 2012, Sandusky was convicted of 45 count of child sex abuse and sentenced later that year to 30 t0 60 years in prison.
The 70-year-old Sandusky, is currently serving his sentence at Pennsylvania’s SCI Greene “Supermax” prison, his bid for a retrial having been denied.
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